Innovation
SAUTER Smart Spaces – next stop: the future When you step into the lift at SAUTER Germany’s headquarters in Freiburg and ascend to the fifth floor, you arrive in the future. Well actually, it’s not really the future being presented in the “Smart Spaces” at all. On a floor completely rebuilt last year, SAUTER is demonstrating what’s already possible in the field of building and room automation right now – from demand-led room maintenance to intelligent asset tracking and indoor navigation. And yet, with so many features combined in a single modular system, to most building technicians this really does sound like something from a future age. Within its own four walls, SAUTER is showcasing how this can all be turned into one immersive experience. But let’s start at the beginning. Why do we want increasingly smart buildings anyway? And what’s wrong with our existing solutions? The answer to the first question is easy: as technology progresses, so do user expectations. We want the features of our smart home at the workplace too. That’s why today’s “smart building solutions” must go beyond just offering classic building automation functions. While ideas and ready-made solutions abound, they can normally only be used in isolation for very specific tasks, e.g. for heating and air-conditioning rooms, intelligent workplace lighting and sunshading or efficient energy management. The list goes on. Sadly however, for every new function, a new system is necessary – entailing new network components, new interfaces, and new controls. Each function might be practical on its own but keeping track of the entirety and using them in harmony correctly takes matters to a completely new level.
A playground for holistic creativity extending beyond building automation In theory, standardised solutions are often promised, but practical application is usually not forthcoming. With the Smart Spaces development and presentation area, SAUTER is breaking the mould. On the fifth floor of SAUTER Germany’s head office, customers can actually experience and rigorously test everything they expect from modern building automation. The floor can take the form of an open-plan office, a conference centre or indeed have many individual offices. There are corridors, toilets, a cafeteria, technical rooms and a staircase – in other words, a typical office floor simulating wide-ranging customer scenarios under realistic conditions. Of course, not all functions are suitable for all buildings. And nobody likes paying for needless “extras”. That’s why the SAUTER solution is a module-based system. Customers pick and choose the features they really need. SAUTER can fashion them into one overarching concept, ready for timely implementation shortly after. SAUTER supplies all the hardware and software components required for networking. These may include the following: room controllers, pre-assembled system distributors, EnOcean and KNX multi-sensors, touch room operating units, mobile user apps and the latest visualisation interface for building automation. If facilities from external providers are also needed, they can be integrated on request.
The biggest challenge currently in building automation is therefore to establish a system uniting all building functionalities under a single standard – both those already in existence and those shaping our increasingly smart future world. Besides easier operation, this has another distinct advantage: it enables all networked components to intercommunicate – even across different systems. This spawns completely new functions, making the possibilities almost endless.
SAUTER Germany headquarters. If you want to experience the future of building automation first-hand, just press number 5 in the lift. A wealth of information is presented on a clearly laid out floor plan. The colour coding shows immediately where action is required or whether everything is running smoothly.
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SAUTER FACTS No 39
